


Wounds and Echoes

by EmeraldPhoenix1221



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: Knights of the Old Republic (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Retelling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-19 11:01:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29749521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmeraldPhoenix1221/pseuds/EmeraldPhoenix1221
Summary: During the Battle of Telos IV, Mia Surik and Visas Marr face down the Lord of Hunger, Darth Nihilus, aboard his flagship.
Kudos: 4





	Wounds and Echoes

**Author's Note:**

> The Exile's full name is still "Meetra," but in this canon, she's been going by her nickname "Mia" since she was an apprentice.

The trio stopped in front of the door to the bridge. Mia could feel the energy emanating from beyond; it was strange, though, more of an anomaly, a hunger or a hole, than a source. She could feel it drawing her in. She turned to Mandalore.

“No offense, but you should probably stay behind. You’re not going to do much with a blaster or a vibroknife.”

“Offense taken,” the Mandalorian shot back, almost before Mia had finished her thought. He paused for a moment. “You got a point, though. Besides, somebody has to keep the exit clear.”

She nodded. “Good luck, Mandalore.” 

He scoffed. “You two are gonna need ‘luck’ a hell of a lot more than I will.”

He moved back out toward the atrium that led to the bridge, yelling into his comlink for backup. As the outer door closed, she took a deep breath. “You ready?” she asked Visas.

“Are you?”

“Ready as I’m likely to get.” She straightened her armor’s chest piece, then hit the door control and walked through.

She couldn’t quite work out how the bridge was even functioning.

To start, there was a gaping hole - no, an _entire section_ of the bridge was missing. It was just… open to the vacuum of space, or appeared to be. There was also something off about the crew. She couldn’t feel them in the Force; they were just soulless husks. It was dead silent, too, with nothing but the light beeping of computer consoles ringing through the massive room. Everything combined to give the entire atmosphere an eerie feeling.

The ominous, dark-cloaked figure at the end of the bridge did little to alleviate that.

Mia was seized by a sudden bout of dread. She wasn’t used to that. The last time she can remember feeling it was at Malachor, when the ferocious melee in the planet’s orbit started claiming too many of her fleet's Republic ships. When she’d run the tactical scenarios through in her head. When she realized what she was going to have to do…

She froze for a moment. Mandalore had said this ship was at the Battle of Malachor V. She couldn't remember - there must have been dozens of _Centurion_ -class battlecruisers there that day. Her gut told her he was right, though, meaning that Visas's master had likely been there, too. That feeling of dread only grew as realized what that meant; she hadn't been the only living Wound in the Force created in the wake of Malachor's destruction.

Whatever that... thing at the edge of the bridge was, it owed its twisted existence to her decision in that fateful battle nine years prior.

This was her monster.

She put the thought out of her head, and swallowed the feeling. Her brow furrowed, her jaw set, and she resumed walking, a hair faster, down the walkway.

About three feet away from the Sith Lord, she was struck dizzy by an unseen force, then frozen in place, staring at what she assumed was the back of his head.

Nihilus turned around.

She hadn’t known what to expect, but she still found herself somewhat taken aback. Nihilus was little more than a mask and robes. With two black holes where his eyes should have been, a mask that had no bottom jaw and looked to be made of bone, and standing almost a foot taller than her, he - it? - looked like a nightmare personified.

Then he started talking.

In a guttural language her comlink’s translation software couldn’t even _identify_ , much less understand, he spoke for a few moments. She could have sworn she heard screams behind the words.

To her surprise, Visas quickly translated. “He… He asks why we have come.”

“To send… You and this ship back to Hell. Even if you kill us, this ship is going to blow... one way or another.” Mia wasn’t even sure if Nihilus could understand Basic anymore.

More of the unknown language came from the Sith Lord. Visas again translated. “He… doesn’t understand. He thinks he can survive it.”

Mia was not at all sure if he was bluffing. He spoke more. A subtle shift in what she could decipher in the way of tone told her he might be. Whatever the case, she already knew why he was here.

“Kreia lied to you… There are n- no Jedi on Telos… You must have sensed it already.”

Nihilus’s voice rose in volume. Those were definitely screams, forming a piece of the cacophony now filling the space between them.

“You… You’ve got a live one right here. You want… wanna feed? Feed on me.”

Nihilus fell silent. Then took the bait.

He reached out a gloved hand, and Mia felt a small tug in the Force; that tug quickly gave way to a pull without her having to do anything. She recognized the odd sensation of having her Force drained. Well, that was what would have been happening if she had been anyone else. 

Due to the nature of her severing from and renewed connection to the Force, she had essentially become a black hole, drawing power from people and things around her. She’d been careful not to let her friends cross the ‘event horizon,’ so to speak, because she had no idea what would happen to them. She’d been careful not to let _anyone_ cross that line, really. She simply manipulated the ‘accretion disk’ that formed around her.

Until then.

Then, she let go.

She let herself be ‘drained’ by Nihilus, but the Sith Lord only drew the _absence_ of the Force from her. All his power, all his hunger, was being lost to the nothingness she carried within her.

Nihilus jerked his hand back with a ferocious exclamation in that inhuman tongue, then fell to his hands and knees.

She and Visas were suddenly released from the soft stasis they had been in. Looking down at Nihilus’s crippled form, she couldn’t help firing off a snarky comment. “What? Didn’t like the taste?”

Nihilus rose slowly, his voice now a steady mixture of screams and groans. He drew a lightsaber, intricately covered in a seashell-like spiral pattern, and ignited it.

Mia stepped back, drawing and igniting her own in one swift motion, holding the pale green blade upright and close to her chest in a defensive stance. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Visas draw her indigo blade and move into a mixed stance, hilt held diagonally at shoulder height, point down.

Nihilus made the first move.

He moved with more finesse than Mia was expecting, bringing his saber down at her head. She deflected it off to her left, opening Nihilus’s left side up to Visas, who wasted no time slashing at his shoulder.

He recovered quickly, catching Visas’s blow, then sliding his blade against hers to meet Mia’s next attack.

The discordant screeching sound created by two lightsabers sliding across each other hung in the air as she and Visas took several steps back. She shot a sideways look at her, and the Miraluka moved around Nihilus’s back. Mia launched a flurry of short strikes at him; none connected, but they did their job. Her and Visas now flanked him.

The two worked in tandem, trading blows with the Sith Lord, who was - very slowly - becoming overwhelmed.

Mia saw a chance as he blocked a swing from Visas; she switched forms suddenly (insofar as she had been using one to begin with) and thrust her blade at Nihilus’s mask with one hand. A sharp _hiss_ told her she had connected.

Nihilus growled and wheeled completely around to face her. Without turning back, he lifted his left arm and grabbed Visas with the Force, choking her, then flinging her across the bridge. Her legs hit the floor at an off angle, and Mia heard a sickening _snap_ before Visas rolled to a stop about fifteen feet away.

Mia fought the urge to cry out as Nihilus turned his attention to her, unleashing an unrelenting hail of blows. It was all she could do to defend herself at first, but she was eventually able to disengage. Clenching her left hand into a fist, she created a shock wave that sent both her and Nihilus flying in opposite directions. She used the Force to right herself in midair, hitting the ground in a crouch, with her right leg outstretched.

Nihilus had already recovered; there was a _crack_ of electricity as he fired a single bolt of Force lightning at her. She caught it on her lightsaber and launched it back at him.

He caught it again, then held his hand over his saber’s blade. The lightning engulfed it, becoming a part of the weapon, which now sparked and crackled.

That was new.

She settled into a defensive stance as he rapidly closed the distance between them. He swung at her, she caught the strike - 

\- and felt an electric shock shoot up her arms.

She screamed, half in pain, half in surprise, and almost dropped her lightsaber. He swung once more, and she ducked out of the way and rolled off to the left.

She stood up as quick as she could manage, but she was still forced to block another of Nihilus’s swings with her saber. It was too late to dodge out of the way. She grit her teeth as the electrical current coursed through her, but couldn’t help loosening her grip on her weapon. Nihilus clearly felt this; he twisted his blade and wrenched hers from her hands, sending it flying.

Ducking under another swing, she began frantically backpedaling, just barely keeping ahead of the Sith Lord’s movements. As yet another blow threatened to cleave her head in two, she used the Force to hold the blade in place, staring Nihilus down as she strained.

In an instant, she found herself slammed into the floor, face-first. She rolled over to find Nihilus standing over her; he flourished his saber, then aimed the point down to deliver the killing blow.

It never came.

A flash of indigo hit Nihilus’s wrists, stunning him for a moment and knocking his blade off-center. Mia seized the opportunity and aimed a blast of energy at his head, sending him stumbling backwards. She scrambled to her feet, but soon found herself caught in stasis.

Nihilus held his left hand out towards her, keeping her constrained as he slowly closed the few feet between them. She could do nothing but watch his saber rise once more, pointed at her head. He was taking his time.

A blur of movement to the right caught her eye. Visas had sat up and caught her lightsaber; she looked between Mia and Nihilus, then down toward her broken legs. Turning to look at Mia again, she turned her saber’s emitter toward herself, just in front of her chest.

“No…” Mia whispered as she shook her head weakly.

“My life for yours,” Visas said before switching her lightsaber back on.

The indigo blade pierced her chest, and she let out a breathless gasp before dragging it through her heart, then down and out her side.

“NO!” Mia screamed, before crumpling to her hands and knees as Nihilus’s grasp released. The psychic pain she felt at the death of her friend was substantial, but she could see that Nihilus seemed to be taking it worse.

The lightning had disappeared from his lightsaber, and he held his head in his free hand, swaying and clearly disoriented.

With some effort, Mia stood up, located her lightsaber, pulled it to her outstretched hand and ignited it, her eyes never leaving the Sith Lord. She advanced on him, struggling to clear her mind as she prepared to move into Form VII. Doing so was a risky move, especially in such close proximity to a Dark Side aberration like Nihilus, since VII naturally left the user vulnerable to the influence of the Force.

But if she was being honest? At that point, she couldn’t have cared any less.

She opened with a thrust at his chest, a move he only barely deflected in time. She followed immediately with a swipe at his head, which he ducked under, beginning to back up. For the first time in the entire encounter, Nihilus was on the defensive.

Mia didn’t let up, turning every deflected strike into another, every dodged swing into a thrust, scoring several hits on his robes and pushing him back towards the edge of the bridge. There, she batted his saber blade up and away in a flurry of blows, then aimed for the hilt.

His saber split in two, flying apart in a small explosion of compressed air and Force power; she flourished her blade and stepped back, bringing the point in front of his mask.

Nihilus reached out with both his hands while letting out a blood-curdling scream, and Mia felt that pull again. Again, she let go, letting him drain the nothingness from her, watching as he became weaker with each passing second. 

Finally, he dropped to his knees. His low, raspy groan hung in the air, all that remained of his demented cacophony.

Mia took a handful of panting breaths, then a few deep ones. She twirled her lightsaber in her hand.

In a clean, diagonal motion, she cut the Sith Lord’s mask in two.

The pieces clattered to the floor, followed quickly by his robes, which collapsed in a heap only vaguely reminiscent of a human. She felt a powerful presence linger, then dissipate, at long last becoming lost to the void.

Closing her eyes and taking another deep breath, she switched off her lightsaber and went to recover Visas’s body.

She deserved a Jedi’s funeral; she’d earned that much.


End file.
